Her mother's magic
by telle17
Summary: After Maleficent is resurected and her daughter brought back to Storybrooke, the former Evil Queen seeks her out... Mentions of past DragonQueen


Okay, so that's a first for me in this fandom, and oparu, on tumblr, is entirely to blame. The story was inspired by something she reblogged -and you don't want to see it before reading, so it's at the bottom of the story, I'm nice like that-, you're welcome to tell me what you thought of it!

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own OUAT.

 **Summary** : After Maleficent is resurected and her daughter brought back to Storybrooke, the former Evil Queen seeks her out...

* * *

Lily is sitting on a bench when she finds her.

The girl is breathing through her nose, deeply, obviously trying to calm down after the recent revelations in her life. She's mad at Emma, that much is clear; and Regina has not had the best attitude toward her when they brought her back from that hell-hole she was living in, barely sparing her a glance when she was so focused on saving her friend from the terrifying darkness that had once been her own undoing; back when she was only a passing thought, a barely-there flutter of _maybe, maybe, maybe_ in her heart that she couldn't allow to expand -hope had never been her thing, after all-... so it wouldn't have made sense for her to try and talk to the woman, really.

But now...

Now her heart is pumping hard with thoughts of timing and curses and disappearances that never really made any sense but that she had let slide, lost that she was in her revenge plot, and she's thinking that maybe had she _looked_ for half a second then there wouldn't even _be_ a curse.

But then again, she knows, somewhere not so deep anymore, that she was barely more than her anger back then; there is a reason she wasn't able to look away from the Curse, and she wouldn't have been any good to anyone, really. And, in a way, she is afraid that might have she been able to look around for that half second, then Henry Sr might have not been the one to pay the price because even then, she might still have been too consumed by revenge to really see what life still had to offer.

Now, though, she finds that she believes, that she wants to believe that she _is_ more. She knows she isn't perfect, and that she won't ever forgive herself for what she made Henry go through, but slowly, oh-so-slowly, she is learning to accept that not being perfect is actually being exactly what she needs to be. For herself, for the little girl always so eager to please the mother who only wanted better... for the child who is and the one that may be.

And so yes, maybe... for hope.

The chestnut-haired woman gazes up at her distrustfully. She tries not to sigh to audibly at this: this is not an unusual sight for her to be regarded with defiance, but here, in that case, it means so much more work to come that briefly, she considers turning away and not looking back.

But... yes, hope.

So she sits.

"Shove off", Lily mutters, throwing away the stick she was playing with up until now.

And the attitude is so much like she imagines Emma to have been, back when there wasn't Henry to look up to her and a family to love her, that she can't help herself and throws back:

"I bet that mouth got you lots of attention back at the group home, but it doesn't work here. Now..." and there she stops, because somehow she couldn't stop herself, but now Lily isn't even looking at her anymore. She's staring right ahead, her jaw set.

Crap.

She's so much like Emma that it hurts, because the blond woman has started to share, bits and pieces of her life in the system, and if they're so alike, then Regina is pretty sure she knows what kind of life Lily has had up until now, and that wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

And it hurts. To know that yet another child got caught up in between Snow White and her.

Especially this one.

She breathes in, deeply. Here they go.

"Have your mother ever told you how we met? Back in our world. The fairytale land."

Lily lets out a scoff, but then she answers:

"She said that you were her apprentice. That she taught you a spell or two."

Regina has to admit, she's surprised by how uninterested Lily seems by that. She's almost detached, like speaking of spells with the former apprentice of your dragon mother is an every day occurrence in this world.

Then again, she had guessed so much before they even got to her that she might have gotten used to it on her own.

Regina feels a surge of pride, completely irrelevant since the girl is not one drop of her, at how clever Lily actually is. Clever, and open-minded, because who would have believed that dragons and fairies were real at her age?

"What I don't understand", Lily stammers with difficulty, "is what that has to do with _me_!"

Which is all they have talked about with Maleficent, probably. They aren't at the stage of their relationship where they can share much else: right now, Lily is in desperate need of answers and Mal probably never spoke a word of their former world if it wasn't to explain something to her daughter.

Which is, most likely, the reason why Lily must be wondering why on Earth her mother has talked to her about a mere apprentice.

"Calm down", Regina instructs calmly. "It's a lot to take in." And since she's trying to justify her former lover's actions to the lost girl beside her, she adds, hoping it will suffice to make her understand why Regina was worth mentioning: "I just want you to know I'm here for you, too."

Somehow, that was the exact wrong thing to say -has Mal used the same line on her earlier? Regina couldn't say-, because Lily turns to her to spat:

"I don't need your _pity_. I already _found_ my mother."

She appears proud of the fact, too. That makes Regina smile: the girl has reasons to be proud. Finding Mal in this world, even test the idea of how she might be in her head, that was incredibly brave of the woman.

There's no doubt in Regina's mind that this one is Mal's.

"Well... you really have fire in you", she says, amused at the idea that the girl's mother had to fight back so hard for something that Lily has in such largess.

Lily once again turns away from her, letting her ponder what part of that attitude is a consequence of the system, where looking back is a dangerous act of defiance.

Where leaving first must, somehow, protect you.

It's a classic move Emma was using far too often when she came into town; now she's freeing herself from the habit, learning to accept that some people won't send her away. Regina hopes that Lily might learn to do the same.

"You might be in for a surprise", she says, thinking of the girl's earlier affirmation. "The both of us", she amends after a moment, because well, wasn't it a hell of a surprise for her as well?

She must have something, she thinks, amused, that doesn't sit well with kids from the system, as Lily turns back on her, fire back in her eyes like she never left the Enchanted Forest and was raised a baby dragon by Mal, and snaps:

"Stop it with the riddles and _go_."

The ripple of magic is close to her skin, Regina can feel it. It's heated and possessive, just like Mal's, with just a hint of something younger, darker too. Maleficent's magic is as old as time; she trumps even the fairies in her wisdom and, thus, it's not inherently good not bad. It's fire, and fire doesn't have a motive. But underneath all that wisdom that Lily carries with her as well, under the inheritance the dragons gave her, there is a tiny cloud of magic that is dark and polluted, young and unpredictable, and oh-so-human.

Regina knows Maleficent would never hurt her, but this other magic isn't hers and it's ready to lash out at any moment, so she makes her decision.

"I figured you would be difficult to approach", she says with a tilt of the head. "Well, you can't say I didn't try asking nicely", she adds as she gets up, taking Lily's hand with her.

Lily's surprised cry barely has the time to register to her before she's already holding a knife to the ruby line she just made in the girl's palm. She lets go of Lily's hand and plunges the knife, blood and all, into the inker she just conjured. It took her most of the morning to fabricate the potion inside: her situation is rather unique, and she had to compile several recipes.

As soon as the potion glows pink, she grins. She wasn't sure how she'd react, and there was always the risk that Maleficent was wrong. She was so consumed by rage, back then, that the mere possibility of what Mal was suggesting appeared ludicrous when she came to her, the day before.

But now... Now Lily is cursing at her, clutching her injured hand while visibly torn between wanting to lunge at her and scrambling away from her.

Her grins gets bigger as she gazes at the girl.

"Well hello, daughter", she purrs with a definitely wicked smile, before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

* * *

Just so you have it, because you probably saw it reblogged everywhere, here is the link to the gifset:

On oparu's tumblr, post/135753886305/malefistache-oparu-littlereddove

Hope you enjoyed!


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